No Land for Men

Global Warming {EP-4}

"Arkham what?"
"Arkham City, that's what they're calling it."
"An entire city of criminals, nah, it'll never catch on."
A few guys in Grayson's class were chatting about some project that had appeared on the news, a superstructure to house the criminals within Gotham, however, the government were refusing to provide the funding, deciding to scrap the concept, despite it being a good but inhumane punishment for criminals.
Gray glanced over, raising an eyebrow and brushing his fingers through his hair, the tutor had left and they were watching the news on a big monitor on the wall, which usually would have been used to present certain lessons on. He looked down at his phone, seeing a text from his girlfriend, his girlfriend since he could remember moving to Gotham with the Bat, they met on that first day inside the cave. See, Bruce didn't try to hide his identity to Dick, he knew the boy would find out despite his young age, he was full of curiosity. He and Barbara hit it off like a wildfire, instantly talking about all things nerdy. As they worked together to help Bruce, she was there for Gray when Bruce wasn't, she was there to heal his wounds, fix his armor, fight with him. They didn't date straight away, he doesn't like to remember it that way, but they both had little flings when they were 15, and then he finally asked her out, but he doesn't remember any of the time not spent with her because it usually was not positive.
"I want to take you on a date." He replied to her, it had been roughly a year or so after the Crisis, nowhere near the events of No Man's Land, in which the media were now deeming Gotham.
"Oh yeah? And where are you gonna take me?"
"Well I can't tell you that, it would ruin the surprise."
"You know I don't like teasing."
"And you know I like when you slap me for it."


Jason was taken in at an older age that Grayson, he was adopted by Bruce mere months before the Crisis, the two got along well though, instantly forming like brothers, despite not being blood-related. He always had an anger inside of him, a short temper and a mean streak, but he had never done anything off the hook. He trained with firearms since he had wanted to join the army when the Crisis happened but he was just too young to do so, forced to watch everything from the sidelines, which didn't help his mental state at all. He knew about the Rogues, knew who they were and what they wanted, what their personalities were like. He and Babs got on well, she always managed to keep him cool when he needed it, though he was always the third wheel.
"Do you want to talk about Bruce yet?" Babs asked, walking alongside Gray, holding his hand as they headed out into the snow, tugging her scarf on. In return, he simply shook his head, squeezing her hand a little, he had lost two sets of guardians in a short amount of time in his life and of course, he was shaking and affected by it, first his blood relatives, and then his adoptive family. They headed to a small little diner, which wasn't expensive or anything but was atmospheric, and that's what their dates were, always had a mood to them, almost artistic.
"Jason's doing well with his training," Gray said during the conversation.
"Good, he's determined to get to your level, maybe even better." She replied quite boldly with a small smile to tease him.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here."
"Alright, but try not to encourage him too much."
"He lashed out at another teacher too, kicked a chair right across the room, I had to calm him down."
"His temper needs sorting, ever since the army, he's like he's had a wire tugged out somewhere." Babs ate her food, she enjoyed speaking to Grayson, they didn't expect much from each other when they went on dates, just each other's company, and with Grayson rarely needing the NW armor, that was a much more common thing for them now.

It was finally her time to wear the costume, put on the armor, stick to the shadows. It had been something she was happy to give up, not quite realizing how much she missed it once it was gone. Batgirl(BG) perched on the corner of a building, overlooking the Cobblepot strip, she could see Zsasz in the streets, wearing certainly more items of clothing than he was during their encounter. "Yes dad, I'm fine, and Grayson's with me, distracting me." She lied through her comms to her father, something she was used to doing, though not with the city in this abandoned state.
The riots had calmed outside of the city, the president reassured the world that Gotham would get the help it needed, though it would obviously take some time. "We are gathering together and air dropping as many supplies as possible." He announced live on TV to the entire country. There were protests being made, construction on the bridges to Gotham had begun and they were starting to rebuild, though it was taking time, and certain crime bosses had taken over the ends of the bridges, opening fire on workers and such to keep them out and away from entering the grounds. The army was gearing up, preparing to enter the city, they were assembling a huge force, and occasionally sent in choppers to evac people from some of the ruined rooftops and the flat land they could get relatively close to. Downtown Gotham was where the majority of the tremors had caused some real damage since a lot of the buildings were close together. The strip was in the Bowery district of Gotham and had always been a rough point for crime and crime families. Anybody there had been driven out or taken over by the Cobblepots, for example, the Falcones, they were driven out and forced to a new location. They were the gang with the most members and had a large amount of money, though money was useless at this point, trading was done using supplies such as food and clothing, or bodies. There were military choppers trying to evacuate citizens as much as possible without receiving too much fire from the gangs that had managed to gather guns and ammo.
Freeze owned a large section of the city, under his control was power and water plants, but he wasn't heartless, he didn't shut them off, just used them as a large compound in one corner of Gotham, keeping out the likes of the GCPD and Cobblepots. Freeze was buying his time, not starting too many fights, not wanting to thin his forces early since nobody knew how long this travesty could last. Grayson tugged his hood over his head; Gotham was a large city but he couldn't risk someone recognizing him, he didn't have time to chat or join in with any of the manic decisions people were making along the Cobblepot's strip.
"Take her to the center!" Oz barked at a henchman, dragging a woman into the middle of the road that ran through the strip, people creating a circle around them.
"You gonna help?" Grayson asked, talking through their comms to BG (Batgirl).
"I have to do all the hard work" She said sarcastically to him.

"You lot, are gonna learn not to fuckin' steal from The Penguin!" Oz barked and kicked the prisoner he had taken straight in the face, knocking her to the floor as she whimpered, criminals gathering around and shouting abuse at the woman, cheering on Oz as he circled her.
"I think our lads deserve a show, don't you?" He asked, his eyes turning to Zsasz who was unzipping his pants, licking his lips as he approached her.
"Keep him distracted, I'm gonna see if there's anything in the offices." Grayson slipped into the Iceberg Lounge, people everywhere enjoying drinks and loud music, there were power generators scattered around the building lighting the whole strip up.
She towered over the 'show' that Oz and Zsasz were putting on, she pointed her grapple gun directly at Victor and shot, the hook leapt out and grasped his chest, it retracted and she pulled, launching Zsasz over the girl and halfway up the building, his unconscious body now dangling, the crowd had quietened when it happened and they now all looked up at Babs. As soon as Oz had seen the hook, he dived into the sea of taller people, letting them deal with whatever was happening, he got a glimpse of her, he recognised the way she was dressed from she had appeared on the front of the Gotham Gazette and the news reports, there was no way he was taking on a fully armored vigilante, so he snuck inside. "Alright boys, playtime's over, you didn't really think I was gonna let you have fun without me she asked and leapt, throwing down a smoke pellet, the thugs began to cough and wheeze, she darted through the smoke, getting the woman clear from all of the action before she dived and attacked the criminals, taking them out one by one, some took out each other with stray bullets as they attempted to attack her.
He searched through drawers, flicking through files and books to see if he could find any information to add to their makeshift database. He found some notes on some trade deals with Black Mask, but of course, he was still holed up in the Narrows, controlling the shipping. The GCPD in the asylum also had access to some docks at the back of the island where they could get in small amounts of supplies.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Babs, how's it goin'?" he asked and waited for a response, and there wasn't one for a few moments. "Not now Gray" She grunted in return which caused him to roll his eyes, he should have been out there helping, but they couldn't fight everyone in the Iceberg Lounge.
Oz was cocky and assumed the men outside could deal with her, the smoke had cleared, a bunch of them piled up and out cold, she crawled back to the roof of a building. "Out of time, didn't see Oz" She panted.
"What the fuck?!" Oz barked as he saw Gray in the large VIP room, well at least the back of him, he didn't even think about he just reached for his gun and opened fire, Grayson dived behind the desk, scurrying along as the bullets followed him, piercing holes in the wood. "I am tired of fucking thieves!" He yelled, losing his temper as he emptied a magazine, Grayson took the chance to dive for a door, Oz of course chasing as he reloaded the gun, he was a messy shooter, clearly inexperienced. Gray dodged past people, Oz charging behind him and yelling insults and such as he demanded people stop Grayson from escaping, though Grayson was quick. He jumped from the second-floor balcony int he main room of the lounge and grabbed the chandelier, using the momentum to give some more distance between the two, landing in a crowd. Oz continued to fire, straight up shooting people in order to stop Grayson. "Shit, shit, shit" Gray muttered, managing to barely get out of the front doors and out into the strip.